Nov 7, 2014 - WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED ‘CAPITALISM’ ANYWAY? by Damon Corrie

What exactly is this thing we call ‘Capitalism’, by definition it is: “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.”

Sounds reasonable, as I myself am a self-employed entrepreneur that has taken the ‘freedom to do business worldwide’ to literal levels most others don’t, not in the sense that I have become wealthy and built up some corporate ’empire’…..but in the sense that I do not recognise any limitations on me doing business, I work wherever I go – if I feel like it – without any work permit, but my ‘work’ is a mere matter of getting online (I just need to find an internet cafe or wi-fi signal and my ‘office’ is open) and matching a buyer for something I have found in some country I am on holiday in, buyer sends me express payment wherever I happen to be at the time, I ship the item/s to the buyer, and I leave and go somewhere else….and repeat the process.

BUT – the problem with just about EVERY other ‘capitalist’ I have EVER met – is this – they are NEVER satisfied, I never heard one say ‘I am making enough money’, when I say this they look at ME as though I am crazy? ‘Make enough’? What is wrong with you Damon – there is always more you can buy if you make more money! (they say)….and THIS is the CRUX of the matter folks…in 99% of the cases – the FUEL that drives the ENGINE called CAPITALISM is GREED!

Don’t get me wrong, I will NEVER support ANY system of government that forbids an individual from conducting a legal and MORAL private business (as just because something is ‘legal’ does not make it moral…..in some countries a brothel is ‘legal’ and sex with a girl from age 12 is also ‘legal’ (In Angola, Niger, Burkina Faso, Japan, South Korea, Argentina)…but I don’t think you will oppose me telling you that to have 12 year old prostitutes working for you in your legal brothel is NOT moral at all!).

I am convinced that human beings are greedy creatures if left to their own devices, and so some kind of moral ‘policing’ is necessary in societies that allow free private enterprise…or we will see all kinds of moral decay ranging from the extreme of ‘Animal brothels’ as now exist in Denmark (see here http://www.examiner.com/article/popularity-of-animal-brothels-increasing-germany-petitions ) – to a handful of ALREADY filthy rich families (like the owners of Wal-Mart) who will shut down EVERY middle class mum & pop small family business in every town ( http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-super-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129 )- and open their mega-stores with minimum wage jobs creating a virtual 2 class global society of a minority of rich owners – with a majority of minimum wage earning debt slaves ‘survival consuming’ themselves for their entire ‘existence’ – while the rich are the only ones enjoying ‘life’ with the freedom from the daily work grind that the ‘workers’ they parasitize have to submit to….whether they like it or not.

Such a system could NEVER be the ‘will of God’ for mankind to live by….what happened to CONTENTMENT, CHARITY, EQUITY, and EMPATHY? How can you spend unnecessary millions on yourself catering to your greedy WANTS – when so many BILLIONS of your fellow human beings (your spiritual brothers and sisters in the eyes of God) are enduring grinding poverty and lack of basic needs?

The OTHER extreme of forcing EVERYONE to be destitute cannot be God’s will either! We are supposed to be intelligent beings, why can’t we invent a better way after 2 thousand years of ‘education’ and so-called ‘civilization’? Seems obvious to me that I can find MORE examples of FREE and EQUITABLE societies devoid of poverty’ (no-one rummages through garbage looking for food in any intact and non-westernised traditionalist indigenous society) and blessed with abundant moral wealth – in the indigenous societies that ALL our ancestors lived by from the previous 200 thousand years! And in ALL indigenous societies individual free enterprise was allowed, the difference is – it was kept at levels of morally acceptable contentment (no big-business ‘multi-tribal corporations’ owned by one man) that did not negatively impact on any other tribal members.

In every ‘successful’ capitalist ‘Tiger’ economy in the developing world – there are now millions MORE ‘impoverished’ people (who were just ‘poor’ before)…the socio-economic middle gets smaller with more people being shoved DOWNWARDS – not upwards, with a few new Billionaires vacuuming up the wealth for themselves….is that a successful model in your mind?